Just Yesterday
by DawnKreston
Summary: For over seven hundred years, no one knew exactly why Hyrule fell the way it did. With her memory back, Zelda relives the steps that led to the fall of Hyrule.


**Just Yesterday**

The memory plagued Zelda's thoughts and dreams. She couldn't keep herself busy enough. It had a relentless hold on her soul. No wonder she had made herself forget all of who she was for over seven hundred years. She couldn't stand knowing that because of her Hyrule was gone.

The memory played over and over in her head. All the details of that horrible day were too clear. It was as if it had happened yesterday. Since she had lost the memory for so long, to her, it had just happened.

Why had the Goddesses allowed the destruction and devastation of Hyrule?

They were upset. Zelda had no idea just how angry they were. Even when she visited them and spoke with them about the future of Hyrule, they didn't show their anger to her. Her intentions had been noble. She wanted to rid the kingdom of the disease that showed itself in the form of ten men.

The Council.

They had ruined all. Hyrule veered off course because of them and their greed. All she wanted to do was rid Hyrule of their ignorance, pride, and greed. She knew she couldn't do it by herself. She tried for years to figure out a way to strip them of their power, but the law was beside them. She needed more power than them, and the Goddesses held such a power.

She told no one of her plans, not even Link, her husband. There had been no clue to lead towards her intentions. No one thought anything of it when she announced the whole castle would take a week break. Their queen had such a kind heart. She cared for all her people, and that was the motive they believed was behind her announcement. Little did they know, during that week the castle would be destroyed.

Once her and her family were situated comfortably at their cabin in the woods, she decided to visit the Goddesses and put her plan into action. She read to her children and laid them to rest, just as she did every night, and went to join her husband in bed. She snuggled against her husband and closed her eyes to this world for a few hours.

When she entered the world the Goddesses inhabited, she was faced with the three women all of Hyrule looked to for guidance. She quickly bowed in respect and waited for their cue for her to straighten.

"What do we owe the pleasure of this visit to?" the woman dressed in red and with hair the color of fire asked. She was Din, the Goddess of Power.

"I have come on behalf of Hyrule to seek your guidance."

"And what sort of guidance is it that our Hyrule needs?" the woman dressed in green asked. She was Farore, the Goddess of Courage.

The woman in blue, Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom, stood idly by, observing the queen. She didn't just notice the wrinkles that creased her brows and the bags beneath her eyes. She looked deep within the good queen, absorbing all that was making the queen feel ill.

"It's what we have been delegating for a while now," Nayru spoke up. "Our beloved Hyrule has lost its way, and Zelda has come to ask our help in cleansing what plaques the kingdom."

Zelda thought she caught sight of a flash of anger in Din and Farore's eyes, but she couldn't be sure. She nodded in agreement with what Nayru said. "That is the truth. It is my own fault that things have progressed the way they have. It's why I am here. I wish to right my wrong."

"We understand, and we are behind you. After a day's time, Hyrule will no longer suffer." Zelda had no idea that would mean the complete destruction of all of Hyrule.

"I thank you for all that you have done and all that you will do for us." Zelda gives them a final bow and wakes in her own world, shrouded with a thin cover of peace.

That peace didn't last long. News traveled quickly, even into the remote part of the forest in which Zelda and her family were spending their break. The castle had been attacked some time in the night. With no one around to calm the people, no one knew who to trust. Neighbors were turning on each other. They needed their queen.

Before she could completely dress into her riding clothes, the earth began to rumble. Something was happening. She needed to ride quickly. She barely rode out of the forest before everything around her began to crumble. The earth tossed and turned like roaring waves of water. From the sky burning rocks fell. The Goddesses made good on their word…and much more.

Zelda awoke hours later, or at least it seemed like hours. Time was hard to figure. It looked as if it were night, but the sky was red instead of a deep black. She staggered to her feet, her body battered and bruised. Instead of a valley, it seemed to have turned into a mountain. She climbed up and over all the jagged rocks towards the top. The view that greeted here was nothing but a wasteland. All she saw was rocks and rubble. She could make out forms in the distance and could hear the crying and screaming that came from them.

Her people.

A tear rolled down her cheek. How could this have happened? It wasn't what she had meant to happen! Terror griped at her heart. She turned and made her way back down the rocks and crevasses. What happened to her family? She prayed with all her heart and soul they were alive and well.

The forest was no longer what she had remembered it to look like hours before. Most of the trees were either burned or fallen. It seemed to take a lifetime of weaving and winding around the carcasses of trees to her home.

"NO!" She ran towards the ruins of the cabin and shuffled through all the debris. "LINK! KIDS! ANYBODY!" she screamed out, but no one answered. She spent hours shifting through the debris, but it proved no good. No one could be found.

Something inside her snapped. The light in her eyes dimmed, and the hope in her heart dwindled. Nothing. There was nothing now. A part of her soul shattered, causing the world around her to blacken and all of her memories of how her life used to be to fade away.

Now, seven hundred years later, the horror of that day came back to her. She bent over the sink and stared at her haggard reflection in the bathroom mirror. "I never meant for that to happen." She hit her fist hard on the counter, surely bruising her wrist really good. "I NEVER MEANT FOR THAT TO HAPPEN!"


End file.
